Early bird clocking in (this is partly because I’m located in South Africa but I’m always but early anyway, especially now it’s summer for us.) I’m back to my January 2018 weight which was pre injury and transplant and complications, but with only one kidney I need to drop another 3 kgs so there is no need for competition weight cuts. I’ll get there, just doing it at a reasonable pace so it sticks. I’m also still building back some of my strength, but again that will come with the consistency this challenge encourages. It’s been a crazy journey these last two years and I’m hoping to get back to competitions this year and possibly even get the overseas adventure I’ve been saving for, but I’m happy to wait for the world to find some form of peace before I commit to jetting across the globe. I train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and get to work with some incredible animals in my career. Looking forward to sharing this healthy journey with old and new friends.

Hello! I am a new to this challenge! Maybe this will be the year I lose this 20 lbs! No excuses, but I do like to blame my husband who keeps baking delicious treats. He is a triathlete so he burns them all off. Thanks for hosting the group Ranger Rick. Nice to meet you all.

To all the newcomers, you all sound like wonderful people 🤗 To returning UACers, so glad you're back!

I'm a bilingual Canadian living in Quebec who started using MFP back in JAN2020. I started joining this challenge group in OCT2020.

My goal? Maintain my body fat in the low 20% range (or, gulp, high teens) since I've never been able to do that before. Along the way, getting stronger, more flexible, and working on mobility improvements are fun bonuses.

I'm in a body recomp phase right now and will likely be in this phase until spring/summer 2021.

Ultimately, I'm here to stay with UAC because this part - the body fat and weight loss - is easier for me. Once the recomp is done, the maintaining may be a heavier mental struggle/commitment to self.

JAN Exercise: Bret Contreras' Strong Curves program (Month 2 of 3), 💃🏿, and random combo training when I'm bored (calisthenics, kettlebells, hill sprints etc).

JAN Nutrition: Continue hitting my protein macro (40%) a minimum of 4x weekly

As always, I'm eager for the month's challenge to start. LET'S GO!

Hey! I'm a newbie to the challenge! I'm looking forward to reaching my goals come 2021!

Hi, I am new to this challenge but have heard positive comments about it on the boards. I had a double transplant(kidney/pancreas) in 2009. After that, I lost 93 pounds (75 gained over 3 years of dialysis plus some extra) and maintained for 5 years until my fiance cancelled our wedding. On March of 2020, I woke up sick of being fat again and decided to do something about it. Since March, I have lost over 62 pounds by walking and following AWORKOUT program beginning weightlifting program. I have 30 pounds left to lose. Would appreciate some creative exercise ideas since gyms are restricting the number of people and length of time that you can be in them. How many calories does snow shoveling burn? We are expecting a few inches here.

Hi everyone! Back for month #25 in a row. Looking forward to it!:)

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the newcomers!

I lost 34 pounds over a year ago using MFP and have been maintaining since November 2019. January will be my 14th month with the UAC, which is for me is about establishing healthy lifestyle habits.

Hi everyone I’m new and excited to be apart of this group. I need the focus to keep going I lost 25lbs since March 2020(mostly because of not going out to eat 4x a week and not having home baked goods offered every other day with a I made this for you or try it and tell me what you think... I think I’m getting fatter by the minute🤪lol) at work. But since I now work from home and cook everything fresh the weight just came off.

Then I decided to try and I joined the wonderful Hogwarts community for 2 semesters and will probably go back next round.
I found when I’m checking in with others and encouraging others I do my best!

So I commit to this challenge to do my very best because when I log everything I eat and stay in my calories and do 20 minutes minimum of exercise...... I LOSE WEIGHT! Simple as that🥰

Nice to meet you all and may this year 2021be filled with Health and Happiness for us All🙏♥️

Gosh, I love reading all of these introductions. I have been on here for 2 months and January will be my third. It is starting to feel like family and I am learning more about everyone as we go.

I am from Austin Tx US and a runner. In maintenance since Oct 2017 and really this is a nice daily place to keep myself accountable. I am not looking to lose weight but just continue to gain fitness and energy and be as healthy as a lady in her 60's (HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!!!!) can be.

For 2021 I hope to actually at some point get back in to the office without masks as I have been remote since mid March 2020 and altho it's got a lot of benefits I really do miss seeing my co workers face to face and walking the halls with my best bud on breaks. I also joined the Run the Edge challenge for 2021 for the first time and I think that is also going to be a lot of fun with the teams and other challenges. I am not really able to run that many miles but I do think I can run/walk them. And I am SURE my team(s) will hit the goals.

The best thing about this group is it accepts that NO ONE is perfect and the path to success does NOT require it. Over my many yo yo years I did actually learn that trying to be perfect and strict always led to failure. (hard to believe this hard headed Texan learned something!)

If you read my posts you will see that I have a horse who has been my best friend for almost 27 years. He turns 29 next year and is truly an amazing Grand Prix dressage partner. But now we both are a little bit less competitive and altho he still can be a kite, he is really the sweetest and most talented and athletic partner I have ever been blessed with.

Hope to see everyone on the Jan thread.

SummerinTx

globalhiker wrote: »

I only ate out 4x in all of 2020! Take-out maybe 6x! And my weight stayed the same!
After losing my job, I just got really damn good at cooking at home. I cook super healthy and nutritious meals, often lower-carb but my problem is the quantity. I often go back for seconds....hope to get this bad habit addressed once and for all!

@globalhiker One change my husband and I have embraced is no more family style cooking and serving for our regular meals. I do the cooking in the home and now I predetermine both of our dinners, and even track it in my husbands MFP account for him (got him to join MFP in November!!!!). Consequently, there are no "seconds" to go back to.

Hello all, my name is Alisa (Ahhh - lee - sah) and I am excited to be joining in with this challenge. I have been consistently losing weight through tracking, but have been inconsistent with movement - excited to have some accountability there.

Feel free to "friend" me on MFP, I love the connections!

Starting weight (Feb 2020) 272 lbs
First Goal Weight (Nov 2020) 212 lbs
Next Goal Weight 199 lbs (onederland!)
Next Goal Weight 172 lbs
Dream Goal Weight 136 lbs

My Inspirations
Live to be 80 years old in a healthy body.
Give my daughter an example of healthy living.
Going on any ride I want to at the amusement park.
Enjoy getting my photo taken by other people again.

I have been overweight for as long as I can remember, always the heaviest of friend group and siblings. I would eat when I was bored and definitely when I was under stress. I remember sneaking food as a young child and eating an extra meal every night for my evening snack in my adult life. I gained weight with every kid, even though they came to me through adoption/foster care. I gained when I lost my niece to cancer.

I have lost and regained 20 lbs a few times, first when I went on an international trip for 6 months (no access to my own groceries/snacks) and then when I was training for a half marathon (MFP and TONS of exercise). And now I am still losing, more than I have ever lost (MFP and minimal exercise).

I have two goal weights, the first being the weight I was at when I ran a half marathon for charity (212 lbs - DONE!) and the second being the healthiest adult weight I can remember for myself, after months of international travel (172 lbs). If I were to reach both of those goals it would mean the world to me (but my dream, dream weight is 136 - which would mean I lost half my body weight - and would be firmly in the healthy BMI range).

But, for the first time, I don't see a "finish line". This is just life. This is just what eating looks like for me, a historically terrible estimator of how many calories are in things - who can get off track without an external touchpoint like a calorie counter.

Hello all, I'm Michelle and live in NYC. I'm 48 and lost all the extra weight years ago with MFP. Unfortunately, I gained it back because I stopped logging food and weighing myself, which I need to keep myself on track. Otherwise, my portion sizes creep up and I don't notice myself gaining the weight. It also didn't help that I'd quit the gym to save money.

This time around I've found that I love doing spin classes (at home) and yoga. I've also started doing some strength training and pilates, as I really want to improve my fitness level as well as lose weight. So far, I've lost 20 lbs but need to lose about 26 more to be at a healthy BMI.

I think this group will be good for me. I've been doing well with exercise the last few months, but I really need to keep with the yoga daily to avoid stiffness/tightness. Also, one of my main downfalls with maintenance was continuing to log, so I am hoping to build this into a strong habit.

OOh...I'm so excited to join this journey with you all! I am a very consistant runner but tend to get bored with my in between workouts. And, since I run a lot I tend to justify eating lots more junk than I should. I like the 20 minute requirement for a daily workout. I also want to work on hitting my step goal on my days off from running. (These virtual meetings really make that much harder.) The food logging is going to help me lots too!

Thanks for organizing this! You all inspire me!

I'm back for the new year! I joined the UAC in September last year and found it super helpful, but work related stress took over my life back in November and everything else went by the wayside. Having had 2+ weeks off over the holidays has helped me slowly recharge, but since I don't expect the stress to be any less in coming months my main focus is on anxiety management - and exercise and good eating is definitely a part of that.
One of my aims for 2021 is to get back into regular running; I made several starts at this in 2020 but was thwarted by injuries so a slow process is anticipated. I'd also like to lose ~15kg. However - although fitness and weight loss and being part of the winners circle would all be nice to have, to start I'll be happy if I just manage to stick with daily check-ins for the whole of January. 🙂

Happy new year!